ISSF World Cup Final kicks-off in Munich, China's Zhang wins the first Gold

ISSF World Cup Final Rifle / Pistol · Munich, GER

The men's 50m Pistol final opened the 2015 ISSF Rifle and Pistol Wolrd Cup Final held in Munich, Germany. China's 19-year old Zhang finished atop of the podium, beating Vietnam's Hoang and his teammate Wang.

The 2015 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final kicked-off in Munich, Germany, today. The best 85 rifle and pistol shooters of the world, selected throughout this year's four ISSF World Cup Stages in Changwon (KOR), Fort Benning (USA), Munich (GER) and Gabala (ZE), arrived here to challenge the title defenders and the 2014 World Champions, aiming at the 2015 World Cup title.

The event takes place at the 1972 Olympic shooting range of Munich, in combination with the German Shooting Championship, one of the largest shooting competitions of the world, which sees over 8 thousands athletes from all over the country competing in Olympic and non Olympic shooting events in ten days.

World's #5 Zhang Bowen of the People's Republic of China (19) - who qualified for today's final by winning the second world cup stage of the season in Changwon (KOR) – won the first Gold medal of the ISSF World Cup Final, finishing atop of the 50m Pistol Men event.

Zhang, today's youngest finalists, shot a consistent match, leaving behind him Olympic and world champions, to win his first world cup final in career.

With 192.6 points, the Chinese athlete beat Vietnam's Xuan Vinh Hoang (40), who finished in second place with 189.3 points after closing his match with three frustrating shots in the seventh ring (7.8, 7.5, 7.9).

But, in spite of those three bad shots, Hoang's result won the applauses of the spectators. Travelling from Vietnam to Germany, his baggage was delayed and the Vietnamese shooter did not receive his pistol in time for the competition. As an extrema ratio solution, the 40-year old athlete shot the match with a new, out-of-the-box pistol, without custom grip and adjustments. A remarkable achievement in today's shooting sport world, where every single piece of equipment is usually fine-tuned and customized to the last screw.

Hoang also managed to keep behind himself the title defender, the winner of the 2014 ISSF World Cup Final Wang Zhiwei (27) of the People's Republic of China, who placed in third with 173.6 points after a close duel against his teammate Mai Jiajie (28), the winner of the last ISSF World Cup Stage in Gabala (AZE).

Portugal's 50-year old Joao Costa followed them taking the fifth place with 131.9 points, finishing ahead of the three-time Olympic Champion Jin Jongoh of the Republic of Korea (35). The current world record holder and reigning world champion Jin scored 113.0 points, ending up in sixth place.

His 20-year old teammate Park Daehun (KOR) – a two-time world cup silver medallist this year - was the first to be eliminated after the eighth final shot, placing in 8th with 72.0 points. The winner of the first European Games edition Damir Mikec of Serbia (31) followed him along the elimination path, taking seventh place with 92.4 points.

The ISSF World Cup Final, running from the Munich (GER), will continue today with the 50m Rifle Prone Men final, scheduled at 13.45 (GMT+2). The final will be broadcasted live on www.issf-sports.org

The ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final is kicking-off in Munich. Check out who's qualified: http://t.co/KB5zG9ynoK